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LETTERS We invite you to share your thoughts, opinions, and comments with fellow readers. Please send your cards or letters to letters, 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506. Fine Cooking, CUISINART'S POWER STRAINER FOR PUREEING The article "Tools for Pureeing" in Fine Cooking # 1 omitted one tool that I find essential and unsurpassed for many processing tasks. Cuisinart's Power Strainer attachment is my number one choice for painlessly eliminating skin, seeds, and stones from cooked fruit and for producing purees of unrivaled smoothness. It's quick, easy to use, cleans up in moments, and is notably quiet. To use the Power Strainer, you need Cuisinart's Citrus Juicer attachment. If your local Cuisinart dealer doesn't stock them, both the Power Strainer and the Citrus Juicer attachment are available by mail order from Culinary Parts Unlimited, 80 Berry Drive, Pacheco, CA 94553; 800/543-7549. -Amanda Burton, Emeryville, CA GLUTEN DEVELOPMENT EQUIPMENT I was very interested by the Food Science piece on gluten by Professor Joseph G. Ponte, Jr. (Fine Cooking #1, pp. 14-16) . I often make bread and have wondered about recipes that caution against overkneading. Professor Ponte mentions a device used by baking technologists to test gluten development in dough. What is this equipment called, how much does it cost, and, if it's not too expensive, how could I buy it? -Joan Black, Easton, CT Joseph Ponte, Jr., replies: We use several instruments to measure gluten development in dough as it's being mixed. Since these instruments cost several thousand dollars each, I wouldn't recommend them for a home baker. If you make dough in an electric mixer, you can take a more empirical approach by timing how long it takes to knead the dough until it's satiny smooth. Then bake the bread and see how well it rises and what the crumb texture is. The next time you make that bread, knead it for 10 percent less time, bake it, and evaluate the results. The 4 PO Box third tin1e, knead it for 10 percent longer. You'll build up the experience to know when dough is properly kneaded. Another option is a new mixer being developed by the K-Tec company in Orum, Utah. As gluten develops, bread dough becomes stiffer; once gluten has passed its peak development, the dough begins to relax and soften, requiring less power from the mixer. The K-Tec mixer employs a computer chip that tracks how much power is needed to mix the dough, allowing you to stop mixing as soon as the dough shows signs of softening. For more information on the K-Tec, call Charlie Coombs at 800/748-5400. WHAT BOOKS DO CHEFS READ? I was happy to see Yamuna Devi's The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking reviewed in Fine Cooking # 1, and I liked the thematic approach to the reviews and the fact that older books as well as more recently published ones were included. I'm curious about what chefs read and refer to. Could you ask cooking professionals to write about their cookbook libraries? Each cook could highlight a few books, either general reference books or books on special topics, or even just one crucial text (even if it's out of print) , and tell why the books are useful, mention a few techniques they teach, and name a few recipes from them that sing. -Joanne Bouknight, Greenwich, CT UNWISE FERN CHOICE I've enjoyed reading the interesting, new magazine Fine Cooking. However, I must comment on a reply concerning fiddlehead ferns. The ferns most commonly sold and used for eating in this country are ostrich ferns, not bracken. Members of the American Fern Society state that bracken is considered a possible carcinogenic, and discourage using them. -Virginia D. Otto, Westborough, MA Editor's note: We mistakenly added a reference to bracken ferns to Jasper White's reply. Ostrich fiddleheads, or Matteuccia struthiopteris, are in fact the kind of fern most commonly sold fresh and canned. John Kallas of Wild Food Adventures in Portland, Oregon, suggests that you buy fiddleheads only from foragers who can identify them by their scientific name .• WOKING fin Publisher/Editor Jan Wahlin Art Director Steve Hunter Managing Editor Martha Holmberg Assistant Editors Suzanne Roman, Dana Harris Copy/Production Editor Li Agen Editorial Secretary Kim Landi Contributing Editor Ruth Rohde Lively Design Director Susan Edelman Editorial Director John Lively Circulation Coordinator Sarah Roman Public Relations Manager Donna Pierpont Administrative Secretary N c to Telephone: Fax: Subscriptions: Orders: ustomer Servi e: Advertising Sales: Retail Sales: c an y Crider Advertising Manager Tom Leihbacher Advertising Accounts Manager Doris Hanley Advertising Sales Coordinators Margaret Capellaro, Nancy Clark How contact The Taunton Press: C 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506. 63 Marketing Secretary Christine Ferguson 800/283-7252 203/426-8171 203/426-3434 800/888-8286 800/477-8727 800/283-7252 x 547 800/283-7252 x 238 Copyright 1994 by The Taunton Press, Inc. No reproduction without permission of The Taunton Press, Inc. is a registered trademark of The Taunton Press, Inc. Subscription rates: U.S. and possessions, $26 for one year, $42 for two years, $58 for three years; other countries, $32 for one year, $52 for two years, $72 for three years (in U.S. dollars, please). Single copy, $4.95. Single copies outside U.S. and possessions, $5.95. Address correspondence to the appropriate department (Subscription, Editorial, or Advertising), The Taunton Press, Box Writing an article Fine Cooking welcomes articles, proposals, manuscripts, photographs, and ideas from our readers, amateur or professional. We'll acknowledge all submissions, return those we can't use, and pay for articles we publish. Send your contributions to Fine Cooking, PO Box 5506, Newtown, CT 06470-5506. FINE COOKI G Fine Cooking'" South Main Sr., PO